Volume LIX: Keep Thing King Big

Hello every One, and welcome to The Good News Journal’s Thursday Thing King Edition, thank You so much for being here. I know I start almost every Post in a similar Way, but Truly, I am so Grateful You are here. At the rate I’m going, I Will surpass all previous annual readership stats sometime over the next three days – and it’s only April! That means more to Me on a personal level than any One could know. So once again, thank You all so much.

Today I am finally feeling a little more relaxed. I completed a ‘preview’ of My response to the city’s determinations yesterday. It really was a big task, and I could have spent considerably more time on it if I had Wished to. I was tasked with reviewing the determinations made by the city to ensure each of them were both reasonable and correct. The city is essentially claiming that none of the Standards were violated, ‘nothing to see here, move along’.

Of course, the overall sentiment of the city’s determinations are both unreasonable and incorrect. It would be Great if I could just tell the city that the determinations are incorrect and unacceptable, but the onus (on us) is ‘on Me’ to prove the determinations are factually unreasonable and incorrect.

There were 22 determinations to review (22 is a Sacred number, too) and a number of them would be extremely challenging for Me to prove. For example, one of My complaints was that the Salvation Army frequently had a shortage of clean linens and pillows for bedding. The city ‘determined’ that the laundry policies and procedures in place are being maintained according to the Shelter Standards and that there are adequate linens for bedding available. It may or may not be true, the Quest-Ion, is how can I prove it isn’t true? My claim was a Sworn Affidavit, so I am already attesting there were frequent linen shortages while I was a client, the city is basically calling Me a liar or suggesting the issue has since been resolved. Unfortunately, there really isn’t much I can do about it.

Instead, I decided to Focus on what I can prove. Sounds like the ‘logical’ thing to do, right? I have copies of the contractual agreements between the city and service providers for emergency shelters, which states that to be eligible for city funding, “emergency shelters must be in compliance with the Emergency Shelter Standards and the Ontario Human Rights Code”. That’s My ticket.

There is no clause or exception in the agreement, nothing that provides exemption from ‘some’ of the Standards, the literature is very clear. I would really only need to prove that one of the Standards were violated, I am thing King I found five or so that can be proven beyond any shadow of doubt. That’s more than enough.

However, there was an even bigger Gift Given Me in the city’s determinations; absolute proof that ‘Housing Services’ made false statements to Chair Deans and members of [City] Council regarding the shelter conditions, the policies and procedures in place, and its compliance with Emergency Shelter Standards. That’s fraud, and manipulation of Canadian taxpayer money. The statements made by Shelley VanBuskirk influence decisions made by Chair Deans and members of Council – pretty serious stuff!

I also found another Big Gift in the city’s determinations. The city claims police do not harass clients in the smoking area. Well, it just so happens that Constable Jenkyn was also the officer who unlawfully arrested the Friend I recently defended in Court. No coincidences, right? Just so happens that the information Jenkyn’s provides tells a very different story:

“This area is well known to members of the Ottawa Police Service for persons loitering, consuming illicit drugs and or alcohol. Additional “No Loitering” signs have been put in place in hopes of curbing this behaviour. Agent status has also been granted to the Ottawa Police Service to help enforce these issues.” – Constable Christopher Jenkyn, Ottawa Police Services

That’s going to be a tricky one to get around. Honestly, My Heart goes out to the city’s defence council. I can’t help but wonder what the city must be thing King when I drop this kind of stuff on them. I feel even worse for Shelley VanBuskirk, though I’m not really sure why – she really doesn’t seem to care much about Me or clients of the shelter.

I’m sharing this with You because a lot of People seem to think the Law is complicated. It’s really not. Man complicates Law. Even if I had a license to practice [mans fiction of] law, I wouldn’t be any more qualified to make the arguments I’m ma-King now. I still would have had to read through the Emergency Shelter Standards, the Ontario Human Rights Code, etc. and all the other related contracts and memo’s. No Way Emergency Shelter Standards are going to be covered in University (though they are available in My Universe-City). 😉

A license to practice law is designed to Keep Man’s Mind in a box – the only difference is that they call the box a ‘Jurisdiction’. A lawyer ‘licensed’ to practice in Ontario can’t practice in Manitoba, or anywhere else in the world. Go figure.

One thing I always was Good at, was Writing. Not to ‘toot’ My own horn or anything, it’s just the Truth. I Writ two psychology papers for a Friend in third year University without even attending a class, and she got the two best grades she’d ever had, an ‘A’ and ‘B+’ (and I probably just confessed to a crime!). Oh well. My Friend already had her thesis and main points, it was genuinely her essay and Ideas, she was just terrible at Writing essays; so I just put it all together for her. Making legal arguments is exactly the same Idea, just different reading material.

So instead of Focusing on all 22 determinations, I thought about My ‘thesis’. My ‘thesis’, is that the city determinations are unreasonable and incorrect. Simple, right? Now, all I have to do is go over the determinations and find information to support My thesis, and reference/source the information I’m planning to use in My arguments. Any determinations that did not clearly support My thesis, I ‘discard’ from My argument. What I’m left with, is a smaller number of determinations to move forward with, simplifying the Issue. Now I can Focus making stronger arguments with less information.

I have the ‘Preview’ Posted, which is basically My thesis and My main arguments. I’m calling it the ‘Preview’ because I haven’t Writ the conclusion yet, and I Will read it over a few more times before I call it ‘done’. Just like an essay, the conclusion summarizes all arguments made into (a) final, cohesive, closing statement(s).

I also decided to publish it here because I’m not sure how I’m going to send it yet. I may actually Write the whole thing out by Hand, though that Will take some serious time, so I’m not sure yet. Ideally, that’s what I would like to do, then deliver it to City Hall by Hand. Anyway, getting most of it Writ was a huge relief, a tangible one.

And, today is Thankful Thursday, even though I’m Writing this on a Wednesday. I know I Will be thank Full tomorrow, as I Will be meeting with ‘Danny’ Power. It even sounds like a Superhero name, a perfect Character for My Story. He’s also the last link to getting into My own apartment.

I’ve also met Danny before, and he really is a Good guy. He respected My rights, and even offered to Honour everything I was as King of Housing Services to do, but insisted he could not get the subsidy for Me unless I Signed the agreement. He even assured Me he would never visit Me once I was moved in. The only thing he couldn’t get around, was the identification. He also works for an organization called the “John Howard Society” (though I was an 80’s kid and always Wish to call it the ‘Ron’ Howard society), which I have heard nothing but Great things about.

Part of My strategy is to be Mind Full to Honour the People and organizations that are doing Great things in the Universe, too, and the John Howard Society is one of them. I’ve never had any personal experience with them, but just to Give You an example, My Friend told Me they paid for a ‘real’ lawyer (as opposed to duty counsel) when he couldn’t get legal aid, and another Friend told Me they paid a man’s rent for three months while he was in jail, and yet another Friend told Me the John Howard Society bailed him out of jail. Imagine being in jail with no family or friends to bail You out, even if it was only a couple hundred dollars or something – how much would that suck? That isn’t even something most People would be thing King of as a ‘Good’ gesture. That’s Good People, whomever is behind that organization (although presumably someone by the name of John Howard). 😛

Ah, I had no Intention of Writing so much, I am thing King it is a reflection of My elevated Spirit. Speaking of which, I Will have to look into when the next Full Moon is, I am thing King it is coming soon. I feel strong Creative impulses when the Moon is Full, so My intuition tells Me it is soon. (Hopefully I haven’t missed it). Too lazy to check right now, as One might guess, though I Will look into it as soon as I get this Published in hopes that I might have a new Spell to Cast on that day. We Will see…

Ottawa City Hall

I hope You all have a Thrilling Thursday, thank You all so much once again for an already fabulous year!